The NBA (National Basketball Association) has finalized a $76 billion deal that will make Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon.com’s Amazon Prime Video new partners. Though the deal will maintain Disney’s ESPN as the home of the NBA finals, as reported on Wednesday.
Under the agreements the NBA deal will be worth $76 billion, according to executives with direct knowledge of the deals. Also, NBA medial rights deal will extend for 11 seasons.
NBA TV rights deal
The new agreement, which is more than three times the current deal for NBA, comes as sports become a powerful draw for media companies trying to expand premium viewership.
NBA has always been a star-driven sport with talents such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal dominating the games and viewership.
NBA’s partners
Disney’s ESPN and ABC, and Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT sports have been the league’s two primary partners from 2002 and 1984, respectively. But media reports have said the NBA has been looking to bring in new partners to maximize returns and more than double the deal value.
If the NBA media rights deal goes through, it could end a 40-year-long partnership with Warner’s networks.
However, TNT could still match the deal, as per report.
Warner will have the NBA next year as well since the new rights deal doesn’t kick in until the end of the 2024-25 season.
ESPN declined to comment while NBC, Amazon and NBA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.
NBA, Amazon, NBC contract
Under the new NBA television deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime, the regular season would feature national telecasts nearly seven days a week, according to sources briefed on the agreements.
The NBA will borrow a page from the NFL, as following the end of football’s regular season, NBC will have the NBA succeed the highest-rated primetime show on television, “Sunday Night Football,” while, on Thursdays, Amazon will do the same after its TNF coverage concludes.
During the entire regular season, Amazon Prime Video is anticipated to have its other games streamed predominantly on Friday nights and Saturdays.
NBC will have games throughout the full NBA season on Tuesdays. Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, is expected to have exclusive telecasts on Mondays. Peacock will also simulcast all the NBC games.
What’s next?
While the NBA and its partner agreed to all the language, incumbent TNT Sports continues to threaten to match. The CEO of TNT Sports’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, has publicly stated he may attempt to use language in the current contract to remain involved with the NBA. If Zaslav goes through with that, he is expected to target Amazon’s package.
The next step is for the league’s governors to approve the agreements with ESPN, NBC and Amazon, which is expected to be a formality.
The board of governors has meetings Tuesday in Las Vegas. At some point following the final step by the league’s governors, the NBA will send the finished contracts to TNT Sports. The company will have five days to make its move. If it declines, then the NBA is expected to be an official announcement before the Olympics, which open on July 26.
